The Catholic
community of post-Settlement
England
relied upon
devotional
literature to sustain the faith
of
individuals
who were generally
deprived
of the
sacraments and contact with
Catholic
clergy.
Increasingly, these books
were used
not only to promote
Catholic
spirituality,
but to encourage greater fidelity
and
loyalty to the Catholic
church.
The
genre is
represented by texts which vary
greatly and which accommodated a wide and
disparate audience with
different
devotional
requirements and even with varying
degrees of attachment to the
Catholic faith.
The
period was one of tremendous religious
literary
activity on the Continent
and
those who were
involved in the production and
distribution
of
Catholic literature
drew heavily
upon the spiritual
books
which were
issuing in
such great numbers
from the commercial presses in France and the Netherlands. Translating the
devotional
works of the spiritual masters of the day
proved to be
a tremendously
effective way of providing
English
readers with
books
of orthodox
devotion,
while at the same time drawing the isolated
community
into the wider world of
Catholic
renewal.
Providing Catholic devotional texts to a persecuted audience under tremendous
pressure to conform very often
drew that audience
into the fray
of controversy and
the quarrel of religious
disputation. The line between devotion
and controversy
was thin and often crossed, and
devotional books
were
frequently
used as a
method of promoting not only
Catholic
spirituality,
but Catholic loyalty
as well.
Thus, these books, like
other
devotional
artefacts, were considered
dangerous to
the religious
-
and political
-
stability of
England. In the contemporary situation
these devotional books
were clearly regarded as effective tools for
maintaining
Catholicism in England, both by those who produced them and
by those who
sought to destroy them. The
study of these books
can
help
us to appreciate that
important
role and the place of
devotional literature in the wider context of
confessional conflict.